This tender, deeply funny novel is about an eccentric elderly Ukranian widower in England and the struggles of his two feuding daughters to thwart the voluptuous young gold digger from the old country, who swee ps him off his feet.For years, Nadezhda and Vera, two Ukrainian sister s, raised in England by their refugee parents, have had as little as p ossible to do with each other - and they have their reasons. But now t hey find they'd better learn how to get along, because since their mot her's death their aging father has been sliding into his second childh ood, and an alarming new woman has just entered his life. Valentina, a bosomy young synthetic blonde from the Ukraine, seems to think their father is much richer than he is, and she is keen that he leave this w orld with as little money to his name as possible. If Nadazhda and Ver a don't stop her, no one will. But separating their addled and annoyin gly lecherous dad from his new love will prove to be no easy feat - Va lentina is a ruthless pro and the two sisters swiftly realize that the y are mere amateurs when it comes to ruthlessness. As Hurricane Valent ina turns the family house upside down, old secrets come falling out, including the most deeply buried one of them all, from the War, the on e that explains much about why Nadazhda and Vera are so different.In t he meantime, oblivious to it all, their father carries on with the gre at work of his dotage, a grand history of the tractor.